Calling all AOD guys, Shift Points??

Don't even drive in OD. Leave it in D. Only shift to OD when you get up on the highway and are gonna cruise. When you get off the highway, shift back to D.

It doesn't change shift points, but just enables 4th (overdrive) gear. Overuse of it can burn out the OD band, so just stick to shifting into OD on the highway not under load and your tranny will live a long life.

I manual shift my AOD. Now a lot of people will say that's bad. But i have done it every day for the lasy 6 years and 50,000 miles. My tranny still shifts fine and the fluid is red.

At the track, i put it in 1, rev out to 5200-5500 and then shift to D. WHen the tranny goes to 2nd gear, i pull it back to 1 to hold 2nd until 5200-5500 when i click it back to D and the AOD shifts to 3rd gear.

I run 0.3- 0.4 tenths faster consitantly when i shift it this way.

Kdubslugga said:

My shifter looks like this

P
R
N
OD
2
1

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If your shifter looks like that, then it's not an AOD shifter.

A stock AOD shifter for an '88 Mustang is

P
R
N
OD
D
1

There is no 2 position. If you have a 2 on your shifter, then you have a 4-cylinder A4LD shifter in your car. Was your car previously a 4-banger?? The AOD does not have a detent for 2 at all. So even with the shifter it will not work.

D is technally 3. It will allow you to use the first 3 gears of the tranny and lock out OD

timewarped1972 said:

here's my question though, even in od, when it's floored it should not shift into od it should stay in 3rd..........question is, you can hold forst all you want, then shift to second, if you want it to go into 3rd before it shifts itself what would you do shift it to od??? would that shift it manully from 2nd to 3rd and as long as it's floored it should'nt go into od right??? i havent tried it because i didnt want to risk it......i ask because if your shift point for second was maybe higher than you wanted or needed, then you'd need to manually shift it to third, which i assume would be clicking it to the od slot, providing it's floored..........if that makes any sense....
someone said to hold 2nd they waited for it to shift into second, then hold that till 3rd, is that different than the 1 d 1 shuffle because your using it to hold 2nd not 1st???
i dont think mine will do that because its got the transgo, if i shift it to first, to first it goes.........i guess theres ways of doing it with or with out the shift kit......god i'm confused now, time for a t-5, lol

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That's true. At WOT, even with the shifter in OD, it should never go to overdrive. The band cannot handle 300-ftlbs or torque so ford made it impossible to go WOT in OD. It will always kick down. This is tricky for guys with gears like 3.73's or 4.10s because 3rd gear will top out around 105-110MPH. If you are crusing at 120MPH and floor it, it will force a kickdown into 3rd and you'll bounce off the rev limiter. Kinda sucks, but just get used to it. There are shift kits that will override this and allow you to go WOT in OD, but trust me you don't want that. OD is NOT A GEAR! It's a band!

The way the drive gears are set up is like this

OD
D
1

You can change this to

OD = 4
D = 3
1 = 1

There is no position for 2nd gear. So you need to understand how the shifting works to take advantage of the ability to hold gears. Technically, you can hold EVERY gear except OD on the AOD.

To hold 1, just put it in 1. You can drive around in 1st gear all day. Keep in mind, the OD band is slipping this entire time so it will build heat. Try to keep this to a minimum.

Now if you want to hold 2nd, you gotta get on it (doesn't need to be WOT, but had to be under load) and when the trans shifts to 2nd, back the shifter down to 1. You don't need to be WOT, but keep the RPMS up. If you slow down too much, the trans will downshift back to 1 again. The AOD will never downshift a gear into 1st unless it safe to do so.

Now with the shifter in 1 riding around holding 2nd, say you want to shift to 3rd. Just click it to D and it goes to 3rd. Simple as that.

Now as for downshifting, it's pretty easy. Just slam the shifter into 1 and floor it. The AOD will downshift to the best gear automatically. Say you are at 50MPH in D in 3rd gear. Click the shifter to 1 and it will drop to 2nd gear.

Now say you are at 35MPH in 3rd gear in D. Sometimes if you floor it here, the trans will only shift to 2nd gear and the car will seem to struggle to accelerate. Now if you do this again but back the shifter to 1 at the wame time you floor it, the trans will kickdown to 1st gear and off you go. WHen it's time to shift to 2nd, kick it up to D. The trans shifts to 2nd and now you can back the shifter to 1 again to hold the gear.

The only time you don't want to slam the shifter in 1 is if you are winding out 3rd gear. If you slam it to 1 it will downshift to 2nd but into a possible overrev. Make sure you will not overrev 2nd when you do this. Like i said before though, the trans will not go to 1st unless it's safe.

Of course all this is considered "beating" on the AOD. But like i said, i've done all of this every day on my AOD for the last 6 years and 50,000 miles. I now have over 100K miles on my AOD and it's never been rebuilt.

PhLoBuS said:

P

I am installing 4.10s and I am going to use OD, think thats a good idea?

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You can use it, just not under load. It's not an actual gear, so it's weak. Just make sure when you shift into OD on the highway, you let off on the gas and try not to accelerate while in OD.

OD is weak, so treat it as such. The band helps engage the other gears in the trans so when your OD fails, it tends to take the rest of the trans with it.

The AOD and AOD variants (AODE, 4R70W) tend to live longer lives if left in D and only engaging OD on the highway.

timewarped1972 said:

id assume regardless then he'd use second, he definatly doesnt want to be shifting into od full blast down the track....

oh and that makes sense, that posted technical stuff about shifting but does that apply to a aod with a transgo in it as well or just stock ones?

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Well the trans will never shift into OD at WOT anyway. He could race down a 1/2 mile track and at the end of 3rd shift to OD and the car will never go into OD. It's just how the AOD works.

Most shift kits don't change too much about how the AOD works. They just firm up the shifts a bit and maybe raise the stock shift points. The only feature of the shift kit which can hurt an AOD is the ability to shift into OD at WOT. Some kits can make this happen. I would suggest NOT doing this.

There are other manual valve bodies and such that can give you full manual control, but that's another thread

LT1Killa said:

Mustang5L5: If you want your transmission to last a long life like you say, then why the heck would you aod shuffle it??? You kinda contradicted yourself with that post.

You mean to tell me that it is better to drive around at 3,000 rpm in third gear than to shift to od? I don't think that makes much sense. I usually leave it in D, but when the rpms start gettin up there, it's time for OD.

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I wasn't saying that everyone SHOULD drive like this. I was just pointing out HOW the tranny works and how to accomplish the manual shifting.

Also, i never said it's better to leave it in D at 3000RPM. This would be cruising. I said up there is one of those many posts that at this point i would slip it into OD and cruise. I typically use 3000RPM as my cutoff point. Anything under 3000 in 3rd i leave it there, if i need to go over 3000RPM, i shift up to OD. But if i'm driving around city streets, i leave it in D and usually travel in the 1500-2400RPM range with 3.73's.

timewarped1972 said:

trying to figure why it would shift into od if it's not supposed to at wot???

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Your Transgo Shift kit i beleive allows you to do this. I beleive you just need to remove a spring or ball and it will allow WOT AOD shifts.